Carved
by Elizabeth Catlett in 1968, Black Unity (1968, mahogany, 20¼ x
22½ x 12½ inches, collection of Alonzo Davis/Brockman Gallery)
provides a site for exploring how the concept of diaspora 1
can be used to expand and augment art historical and
critical discourse. This work further foregrounds why
Catlett's influence on the art of the 1960s was so great,
although for much of that period she was considered an
undesirable alien by the Department of State and not
permitted to enter the United States, even to visit her
mother who was quite ill at the time. 2

In this paper I maintain that the life and work of
Elizabeth Catlett is exemplary of a quintessential
convergence of art, politics, and advocacy for social
change that resonated throughout the African Diaspora.
Using the concept of diaspora, one has another piece in
one's tool kit to explore the extent of an artist's
influence on the art of a particular time and place. With Black Unity,
Catlett at once visually sums up the aggressive Civil
Rights striving of Martin Luther King, Jr., and she
embraces the efforts of Malcolm X and those who were tired
of the slow pace of change, who wanted Freedom Now, and who
advocated Black Power--the ability of Blacks and people of
color to unite and determine their own destiny.

This work also foregrounds the liberation struggles taking
place in 1968 within the United States and in many parts of
the African Diaspora-- within countries such as Angola,
Mozambique, and South Africa--and the resistance to
authoritarianism and political repression, especially the
actions of the Radical Left in the United States and in
Paris, France, whose actions reverberated throughout much
of Europe and numerous other locations around the world.